Tying the knot in Tahiti
How I married my best friend in Moorea, Tahiti, when my husband wasn’t there. (Not that we recommend this sort of thing.)
MOOREA, FRENCH POLYNESIA— When my friend Miles and I decide to investigate this heart-shaped island near Tahiti, we don’t expect to get married. But it happens.
We stumble into a wedding photo shoot at the Moorea Pearl Resort & Spathat’s meant to document the festive, Polynesian ritual, as well as spread the word that weddings are now legal for Canadians in Tahiti and throughout French Polynesia. (For years, couples could only undergo a symbolic ceremony in paradise.)
We’re planning to be bystanders, like the cadre of others gathered on the beach and grouped across a wooden foot- bridge that leads to a line of thatchedroof, stilt-bottomed, over-water bungalows — all interfaced with an indigo-kissed sea. But when the bride and groom don’t show up for the party, somebody needs to stand in for them. Miles and I are delighted to comply. Attendants swathed in Tahitian wear escort us into a bungalow decorated for the faux wedding as artfully as it would be for a real one. A trail of flowers leads to the bathtub, where more flowers float and bob, emanating the heady aroma of frangipani laced with gardenia. A heart, sculpted from red blooms, covers the bed. From the panoramic window, I see an oceanscape turbulent with blues. They mottle the water like smudges — bits of sapphire, jade and rich turquoise splayed out in a frenzy of van Gogh-like brush strokes. I’m offered a skewer of pineapple and a glass of champagne, and reckon I’ve reached heaven.
While Miles leaves the room, the attendants prepare me as the bride. They wrap me in a toga-like white pareu, twisted and tied in its completion to resemble a tropical Grecian tunic.
Atop my head, they place a crown of flowers. Once dressed, I step out to the deck and into a waiting outrigger canoe, adorned with palm fronds and flowers.
My driver paddles this Tahitian chariot out to sea, then back toward the Pearl’s beachfront quay. In the distance, I hear drums and the tinkling of ukulele music. As my boat approaches the shoreline, I see Miles, the artificial groom, awaiting me with an entourage of dancers, musicians and an elaborately costumed Tahitian priest.
Seated in throne-like, tropical chairs, we experience the Polynesian ceremony as actors playing the part of bride and groom. We receive rings made from Ti leaves, allow the water from a coconut to drench our hands, and are wrapped in a ceremonial blanket called a tifaitai.
Afterwards, the musicians explode into revelry and we mimic the dancers in sultry gay abandon. The crowd joins in the fun, before the grand finale when we all pose for pictures with the troops. Had this been a real wedding, we would have entertained family members and friends with a wedding feast — or retired to our bungalow to decompress after all the excitement. As it is, we sit down with friends for cocktails served in coconut shells and wonder what our spouses will say.
Pretty much every resort in French Polynesia has its own wedding ritual. And, even when it’s not one’s real wedding, this Southern Hemisphere-sited island nation, so inspiring to Gauguin, must be the most romantic place on earth.
Far-flung enchanted landscapes accentuated by Polynesian traditions and a French-infused savoir faire explain it all. With 118 islands to choose from, there’s something for everyone here.
But, for my part, I swoon over the sunken volcano idyll of Bora Bora — lovely Moorea and my faux wedding aside. Here, a devastating mosaic of blues loops around a series of motus (Lilliputian-sized islets). Dotting the limpid lagoon sit myriad exclusive resorts, all defined by over-water suites and garden-like grounds. Palms, ferns, flowers and tropical fruits enrich the setting, making it unforgivably irresistible. To choose where to marry, propose, or renew vows here would be a quandary, as all sites offer something unique.
For my money, I’d pick the Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa. An elegant property that manages to meld modernity and French chic with traditional Polynesian élan, the hotel has Philippe Starck-designed common rooms, a French-styled salt-water-themed spa, and just tropical enough bungalows that hover above the sea. Weddings here can take place on the beach or in a simple, glass-floored chapel that faces mystical Mount Otemanu. After a late-afternoon ceremony here, the couple can follow fire dancers and other performers to a decorated, gauze-draped couch on the beach to watch the sun set and await a Tahitian dance show executed just for them. After sipping one of the bartender’s signature love potions, the couple can continue their indulgence with a seductive dinner on the beach far away from the madding crowd.
If getting married on a boat is your thing, the Four Seasons can whisk you out in their catamaran. There, onboard, the lagoon becomes the stage, Mount Otemanu the backdrop and the falling sun a key player. Likewise, the St. Regis, where Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban honeymooned, organizes weddings on the beach or on the banks of a private lagoon. And the Hilton, where The Bachelorette recently reigned, marries couples in a hillside chapel with jaw-dropping views. Becca Hensley is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Her trip was subsidized by Tahiti Tourism and Air Tahiti Nui.